Method and apparatus for motivating interactions between users in virtual worlds

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates generally to the field of computer and network software, and more particularly it relates to a method and apparatus for promoting and facilitating interactions between users in virtual worlds. According to some aspects, the invention provides a way of allowing a user to easily identify other users that the user may want to connect with for any purpose. According to other aspects, the invention allows users to specify items, interests, friends, demographics and/or preferences, and the system automatically identifies other users who meet those criteria. The system can further provide mechanisms to alert and/or introduce users who share similar interests, demographics and/or meet other matching criteria, and allow them to interact with each other. According to still further aspects, the invention can automatically determine criteria for motivating and/or facilitating interactions between users.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/129,519 (Now U.S. Pat. No. 8,490,007), filed May 29, 2008, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/940,955filed May 30, 2007, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. Nos. 60/941,250,60/941,258 and 60/941,261, all filed May 31, 2007, U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. Nos. 60/955,137 and 60/955,144 filed Aug. 10, 2007,U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/974,438, filed Sep. 21, 2007,and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/034,451 filed Mar. 6, 2008,the contents of which are all incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to computer and network software, and moreparticularly it relates to a method and apparatus for promoting,motivating and facilitating user interactions in, or in connection with,virtual worlds.

BACKGROUND OF THE RELATED ART

There has been a recent surge in “virtual world” technologies that allowusers to assume virtual identities (e.g. avatars) and possibly also tointeract with other users online, such as Second Life, Habbo, Zwinky,Gaia, Club Penguin, Webkinz. These are typically accessed via dedicatedwebsites and subscriptions, and are typically closed systems (i.e. auser in one virtual community cannot directly interact with users inother virtual communities). These online communities sometimes furtheroffer virtual items that can be bought and sold within their virtualworlds, such as virtual furniture, virtual clothing, virtual realestate, etc.

One problem with existing “virtual world” products is that theytypically require users to go to specific online destinations to assumevirtual identities and to acquire and use virtual items rather thanallowing users to assume virtual identities and/or pick up and usevirtual items while browsing any website on the Internet. Accordingly,it would be desirable if a system was provided in which users couldinteract with other users using virtual identities and/or obtain and usevirtual objects and virtual goods while they surf anywhere on theworldwide web.

Meanwhile, there has also been a surge in popularity of many othernon-virtual social networking applications such as MySpace, Facebook,etc., as well as many dating sites, such as eHarmony.com, Match.com,etc. These applications also generally require users to go to a specificsite in order to interact, and do not allow interactions between userswhile they are otherwise casually surfing the web.

Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/037,019, commonly owned by thepresent assignee, dramatically advanced the state of the art byproviding a method and apparatus for distributing virtual objects suchas Virtual Collectibles. According to an aspect of the co-pendingapplication, the system automatically allows users to enter virtualworld(s) that span across the world wide web where Virtual Collectiblescan be displayed, used, and traded, and where users can interact withother users. Although this functionality by itself vastly improves uponconventional means of promoting on-line activities, additionalimprovements are possible by further leveraging the discoveries andfunctionalities of the co-pending application, including improvementsthat even further overcome the above-described and other disadvantages.

For example, while the virtual world(s) of the co-pending applicationallows users to interact with Virtual Collectibles and/or other users inentertaining ways, it would be desirable if the principles of theinvention of the co-pending application could be extended to allow foreven more advanced forms of interactions between users, and easier waysfor users to determine whether they share some common interest or needs,which would thereby encourage such users to interact even further andfurther enhance their online experience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of computer andnetwork software, and more particularly it relates to a method andapparatus for promoting and facilitating interactions between users invirtual worlds. According to some aspects, the invention provides a wayof allowing a user to easily identify other users that the user may wantto connect with for any purpose. According to other aspects, theinvention allows users to specify items, interests, friends and/ordemographics, and the system automatically identifies other users whomeet those criteria. The system can further provide mechanisms to alertand/or introduce users who share similar interests or demographics orwho match specified criteria, and allow them to interact with eachother. According to still further aspects, the invention canautomatically determine criteria for motivating and/or facilitatinginteractions between users. According to still further aspects, theinvention can motivate and/or facilitate interactions between userswhile they are casually surfing the web, as opposed to visiting aspecial web site or specific network location.

In furtherance of these and other aspects, a method according to anembodiment of the invention includes identifying criteria that causes afirst user to be motivated to interact with a second user, andautomatically alerting the first user about the second user when thefirst and second user are in first and second virtual locations on anetwork and communicating with a common server system. A methodaccording to other embodiments of the invention includes receivinginformation, at a server system, that first and second users aresimultaneously accessing first and second publicly accessible websiteaddresses, wherein the server system is remotely located from thepublicly accessible website addresses, and serving content from theserver system to a client associated with the first user that indicatesthe presence of the second user, wherein other users that access thefirst publicly accessible website address and are not configured withthe client do not receive the content served by the server system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and features of the present invention willbecome apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review ofthe following description of specific embodiments of the invention inconjunction with the accompanying figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the basic concepts of a virtualworld motivated interaction system and method according to theinvention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are representations of screen shots illustrating howvirtual location-based goods and services can be provided usingembedded/overlaid content or parallel destinations, respectively;

FIG. 4 is a screenshot illustrating how users can interact in virtualworlds hosted by a system according to embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 5 to 10 are screenshots illustrating various aspects ofidentifying and interacting with other users who share items, interestsand/or demographics in accordance with embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for automaticallymotivating and/or facilitating user interactions in virtual spaces thatcan be implemented in a system according to aspects of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference tothe drawings, which are provided as illustrative examples of theinvention so as to enable those skilled in the art to practice theinvention. Notably, the figures and examples below are not meant tolimit the scope of the present invention to a single embodiment, butother embodiments are possible by way of interchange of some or all ofthe described or illustrated elements. Moreover, where certain elementsof the present invention can be partially or fully implemented usingknown components, only those portions of such known components that arenecessary for an understanding of the present invention will bedescribed, and detailed descriptions of other portions of such knowncomponents will be omitted so as not to obscure the invention. In thepresent specification, an embodiment showing a singular component shouldnot be considered limiting; rather, the invention is intended toencompass other embodiments including a plurality of the same component,and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. Moreover,applicants do not intend for any term in the specification or claims tobe ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitly set forthas such. Further, the present invention encompasses present and futureknown equivalents to the known components referred to herein by way ofillustration.

As generally shown in FIG. 1, the present invention can be embodied in asystem 100 that facilitates and/or motivates interactions between users104 while they are casually surfing the Internet 112, including visitingsites of advertisers and other companies or organizations 102. Inparticular, and as will be explained more fully below, system 100provides mechanisms that introduce users 104 to each other based on userinformation 101, which can include their need or interest in certaintypes of virtual goods 106 (e.g. Virtual Collectibles), their interests108, preferences 109 and/or their demographics 110. Typically, system100 automatically introduces users 104 to each other usingcommunications with user clients while the users 104 are simultaneouslyvisiting the same virtual location or virtual world (e.g. a virtualspace associated with websites 102) and/or are simultaneously on-linebut in different virtual locations. Additionally or alternatively, userscan search for other users who have desired goods 106, similar interests108, match preferences 109 and/or demographics 110, among othercriteria, including without limitation a user's list of friends.

According to some aspects, the present invention leverages and expandson the discoveries and functionalities of the above-mentioned co-pendingapplication Ser. No. 12/037,018. For example, the co-pending applicationprovides an interactive system that distributes virtual objects (i.e.Virtual Collectibles) to users while they are casually surfing the web.Each Virtual Collectible consists of one or more attributes. Attributesmay determine the virtual object's appearance, behavior, value, virtuallocation, ownership, etc. Virtual Collectibles are virtual objects thatare potentially unique. According to other aspects, the co-pendingapplication further provides mechanisms to allow users to interact witheach other in virtual spaces, such as personal chat rooms or chat roomsassociated with partner sites.

Returning to FIG. 1, system 100 communicates with users 104-1 to 104-Nhaving clients and associated hosts via Internet 112 to facilitateand/or initiate interactions between them according to aspects of theinvention. In embodiments, system 100 can also communicate with hoststhat do not have clients (not shown).

System 100 can be implemented by one or more server computers andassociated operating system(s), web server(s), database server(s), andother server and application software such as the servers, software andsystems described in any or all of co-pending application Ser. No.12/037,019 filed Feb. 25, 2008, Ser. No. 12/118,533 filed May 9, 2008,Ser. No. 12/126,255 filed May 23, 2008, Ser. No. 12/111,916 filed Apr.29, 2008 and Ser. No. 12/106,925 filed Apr. 21, 2008, all incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety, as adapted with the motivateduser interaction functionality as will be described in detail herein.According to aspects of the invention, such functionality facilitatesmotivated interactions between users 104 having clients that communicatewith system 100. For example, system 100 allows, or perhaps initiates,users 104 having clients to interact with each other (for example tochat, share interests and/or virtual goods 106 and/or become friends)based on their virtual location(s) associated with websites 102 (e.g.www.ford.com, www.coke.com, etc.) that are accessible via Internet 112by conventional web browsers, for example. It should be apparent thatusers 104 can also interact with each other in other ways apart fromvirtual locations.

In general operation, system 100 provides a simple way of identifyingother users that a particular user may want to connect with for anypurpose. In embodiments, system 100 communicates with a user 104'sclient application that either resides within a browser plug-in or isactive on the same computing device while user 104 is browsing the web.Preferably, as described in the co-pending applications, the clientplugs into the browser and/or resides on the desktop, taskbar or avisible portion of the screen of the computing device. According toaspects of the invention, system 100 communicates with the client toalert users 104 to changes in the status of the system and/or presenceof other users who have desired goods 106, have similar interests 108,match criteria in preferences 109 and/or have similar demographics 110.These alerts can be visual, text and/or audio, so that the user isinstantly aware of the status of the software application while browsingthe web. There can be numerous types of status alerts. These caninclude, but are not limited to: (i) alerts regarding the presence ofany virtual items a user needs. In other words, whenever a virtual itemis available for the user to trade or pick up, the user will receive analert; (ii) alerts regarding friends who are currently on-line with thesystem 100; (iii) alerts regarding messages that the user has received;(iv) alerts regarding other users who are currently visiting the websiteor webpage that the user is on; (v) alerts regarding other users who arecurrently visiting the chat room or virtual space associated with thewebsite or webpage the user is on; (vi) alerts regarding other users whoare currently visiting a parallel destination (as described in moredetail in the co-pending applications) associated with the website orwebpage the user is on; and (vii) alerts regarding users on the websiteor in the virtual space that meet a user 104's specific criteria (e.g.desired Virtual Collectibles 106, interests 108, preferences 109 and/ordemographics 110, etc.).

It should be noted that alerts as described above can be generated basedon users 104 in the same virtual location or virtual space. However,this is not necessary. For example, User A might want to meet someonewith specific criteria, and User B meets the criteria. User A might beonline, doing whatever activity he/she is engaged in, while User B isoff line. Eventually, while User A is still online, User B comes online(no matter what virtual location User B might be logged into). At thatpoint, User A could be notified, and may even have an option to send amessage directly to User B, even if User A is not in the same virtuallocation as User B. By contacting as such, they can arrange to meet upsomewhere, or simply start chatting one-on-one, etc.

In embodiments such as that shown in FIG. 1, user information 101maintained by system 100 is a user accounts database that includeslists, typically for each individual user of the system, of VirtualCollectibles 106, user interests 108, user preferences 109, and userdemographics 110. It should be noted that system 100 can maintain otherconventional user account information as part of, or separately frominformation 101, such as usernames, passwords, contact information,etc., in such a database or other locally or remotely accessiblestorages. Moreover, embodiments of the invention can include only one orsome of the information in 106, 108, 109 and 110.

Virtual Collectibles 106 includes items belonging to individual users,and/or credits, points or other real or virtual currency associated withthe users that can be redeemed or exchanged for Virtual Collectibles,for example. As described in more detail in the co-pending applications,Virtual Collectibles 106 (including or in addition to other virtualworld objects such as planets, backgrounds, etc.) are maintained bysystem 100 as one or more objects that may contain animations, sound,graphics and specific functionality within a game or rules-based system.Virtual Collectibles can be as simple as graphics files. For example, aVirtual Collectible could be a .GIF, .JPG, .BMP or .PNG filecorresponding to a static image when rendered on a host computer.Virtual Collectibles can further or alternatively include an animationfile, such as an animated .GIF file or a Flash animation. VirtualCollectibles can also further or alternatively include any sort of mediafile, including any type of audio or movie file, such as MP3, .AVI,.SWF, .MPG, WMV, .WAV, etc. In such cases, content associated withVirtual Collectibles can typically be downloaded or streamed to users104 via clients and conventional protocols such as http and rendered onhosts using conventional browser functionality and/or functionality inoptional multimedia players such as Flash.

It should be noted that Virtual Collectibles can be as sophisticated asa programmable bot or application, such as a trivia game, mini-game,interactive pet, or bot endowed with artificial intelligence. In thiscase, the Virtual Collectibles may come with a client-serverarchitecture of their own, or they may plug into the client-serverframework of a larger game or application provided by system 100 and/ordownloaded to user 104 clients. For example, the Virtual Collectiblecould include a Flash game or a Java game, or a Java servlet, or a C++game, or an Active X control, etc.

Returning to FIG. 1, user information 101 maintained by system 100further includes user interests 108, user preferences 109 and userdemographics 110. User interests 108 can include things the user needsor wants, whether that be information, a virtual item, or something thatthey want to exchange. User interests 108 can also include goals,music/movie/TV preferences, hobbies, etc. User interests 108 can also oralternatively include activities or games the user wants to participatein, such as an on-line game of virtual hockey hosted by system 100. Userdemographics 110 can include age, location, gender, relationship status,occupation, etc. User preferences 109 can include similar information asis included in interests 108 and/or demographics 109, but relates not tothe individual user him/herself, but to criteria of other users theindividual user would like to meet. For example, even if a user's owndemographics 110 indicate he/she isn't from California, he/she may wantto meet someone from California, and thus, set the preference as such.Also, the user may be looking for someone with a specific professionalknowledge. The user may not be a computer graphics person but may beinterested in meeting someone who is skilled in using graphics tools,etc. Other examples and alternatives should be apparent to those skilledin the art after being taught by these examples.

It should be noted that user information 101 can also include socialnetworking information such as each user 104's list of friends withinthe system, preferences for displaying on on-line presence, etc.Moreover, for each type of information maintained by system 100, system100 further preferably includes functionality for allowing users 104 toenter, change and view the information. For example, system 100 caninclude web pages, controls and scripts that can be selected by users104 via web browsers and/or client applications and which allow the userto access information 101 for viewing or editing. Those skilled in theart will recognize various conventional mechanisms that can be used toimplement this functionality, as will become more apparent from theabove and following descriptions.

As further shown in FIG. 1, users 104 have hosts that can be any type ofcomputing device a person can now or in the future use to access theInternet 112 or other public network, and which can host at least aclient application as described in the co-pending applications andconventional or future Internet access hardware (not shown) and softwaresuch as a web browser. For example, the user's 104 host can beimplemented by a personal computer such as a Mac, PC, notebook ordesktop computer, which typically includes an operating system such asWindows or Mac OS, a browser application such as Windows Explorer orMozilla Firefox, and network access hardware such as a wired or wirelessmodem. User 104 hosts further preferably include graphical displays(e.g. one or more LCD screens) and I/O devices (e.g. keyboard, mouse,keypad, scroll wheels, microphone, speakers, video or still camera,etc.) for providing a user interface within the operating system andcommunicating with the client application. User hosts are not limited topersonal computers, but can include cellular phones, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), game systems (e.g. Playstation, Wii, Xbox, etc.) orother devices, and those skilled in the art will understand howimplementation details can be changed based on the particular type ofhost device.

As described in more detail in the co-pending applications, users' 104clients are software applications that reside on the hosts and typicallyexecute under the host operating system. The client software applicationcan be either a standalone application, such as a user interface thatoccupies a large portion of the computer screen when in use, a plug-inthat is embedded into another application such as a web browser andoccupies very little screen space or overlays rendered content on top ofother web browser content, or combination thereof and/or any other typeof application and/or screen configuration.

In general operation described in more detail in the co-pendingapplications, the client application monitors the user's on-linebehavior, such as the URLs that the user is visiting via conventionalweb browsers while casually surfing the web. It transparently sends thisuser activity information over the Internet to system 100. In theco-pending applications, the sent user activity information can be usedfor many purposes that enhance or alter the user's on-line experience,such as determining whether to provide virtual goods, services, games,parallel destinations, alerts, etc. to the user. System 100 of thepresent invention can perform some or all of this functionality, and canfurther use the user activity and information for motivated interactionfunctionality that will be described in more detail above and below.

The client application also preferably provides a graphical interfaceusing the display and I/O devices of the host by which the user 104navigates through, and interacts with other users in, virtual world(s)maintained and hosted by the system 100. For example, as described inmore detail in the co-pending applications and below, system 100 canautomatically form chat groups based on the users 104 that are currentlyvisiting the same site, such as websites 102. System 100 can furtherautomatically cause avatars associated with such users 104 to bedisplayed either overlaid on top of the regular website content or inparallel virtual worlds associated with the website. System 100 canallow such users 104 to chat with each other and concurrently causetheir chat messages to be displayed.

Moreover, as described in more detail below and in the co-pendingapplications, the user may initiate an event requiring server attention,such as a trade request, from the interface. The user may also interactwith other users using chat and other conventional and new onlinecommunication mechanisms, including but not limited to voice and videocommunications, hosted by system 100 and within or without the graphicalinterface provided by the client application. In embodiments, thegraphical interface provides a graphical representation of other usersin the form of avatars, and can also display the Virtual Collectiblesthat the user or other users own, either alone or together with theirrespective avatars. Internet 112 is, for example, the public Internet,but can further or alternatively include any combination of wired andwireless networks, public and private, that are traversed by users whoseek access to content on the public Internet, as will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art. As should be further understood, websites 102are publicly accessible via Internet 112 and the World Wide Web andprotocols such as IP and http, and are hosted by web servers, serversand databases as understood by those skilled in the art.

It should be noted that the block diagram in FIG. 1 is intended to beillustrative and not limiting, and those skilled in the art willappreciate various alternative configurations, topologies, etc. Forexample, while only one system 100 is shown, there may be many servers,either in the same location and/or at the same network address, and/ordistributed across many locations and/or network addresses. Moreover,system 100, websites 102 and other sites, and user 104 hosts aretypically all remotely located from each other, both physically and withrespect to different network addresses such as IP addresses. Many otheralternatives are possible, as will become apparent to those skilled inthe art.

Certain broad aspects of how system 100 can allow users to interact witheach other while casually surfing the web according to embodiments ofthe invention are illustrated in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, someembodiments of system 100 allow virtual objects and services to beoverlaid on website content (e.g. web page) 200 of websites 102 that isordinarily rendered for display by a web browser. These virtual objectscan include avatars 202, virtual collectibles 204, games or activities206 and on-line services 208. The mechanisms for displaying such objectsand providing such services are described in the co-pendingapplications.

Virtual Collectibles 204 can include those described above and in detailin the co-pending applications, such as graphical objects (e.g. avatarclothing and attributes, accessories, virtual furniture, etc.),animations (e.g. barking dog, flying spaceship, etc.), games and otherinteractive objects.

Avatars 202 are typically personalized by each user, and in somerespects can be considered Virtual Collectibles themselves. As describedin the co-pending applications and further herein, avatars 202 can beassociated with users of the system, and can denote an on-line presenceof such users. It should be noted, however, that avatars 202 can also beassociated with personnel of partner sites 102 or controlled by thesystem using scripts and/or artificial intelligence. As such they caninteract with users of the system to provide support, direct users tospecific pages of interest, inform users about special promotions, actas a host who conducts games and events, etc. The avatars 202 can alsobe a game object that users can play with and interact with.

Games or activities 206 can include puzzles, mazes, multimediainteractions between users' avatars (e.g. sword fights, tossing a ball,firing weapons and dodging fire, etc.), trivia games, arcade games, wordgames, social games, games of chance, games of skill, interactive toysand objects, virtual environment games, turn-based games, real-timegames, message-based games, web-browsing games, etc. Some aspects ofgames and activities that can be provided in embodiments of theinvention are described in more detail in co-pending application Ser.No. 12/111,916.

On-line services 208 can include bulletin boards, voice chat, blogs,classifieds, e-commerce, messaging, games, advertising, file sharing,financial services, mobile services, photos, music, radio, livebroadcasts, news and information, job matchmaking, online dating, socialnetworking, search, retail, consulting services, etc. Certain aspects ofon-line services that can be provided in embodiments of the inventionare described in more detail in co-pending application Ser. No.12/118,533.

Certain alternative or additional aspects of system 100 according toembodiments of the invention are illustrated in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG.3, some embodiments of the invention provide parallel destinations 300that can be automatically accessed by users 104 with clients when theyvisit websites 102. Accordingly, rather than overlaying or embeddingvirtual goods and/or on-line services together with normal websitecontent, web page 300 having this parallel destination contentcompletely fills the screen and replaces normal web site 102 content, oris provided in a separate browser window, for example. Within thisparallel destination, virtual objects can be provided, including avatars302, virtual collectibles 304, games or activities 306 and on-lineservices 308, as described above. Moreover, user interactions, such aschat messages 310 that are entered by users 104 having clients in textbox 312, are displayed by system 100 adjacent to their respectiveavatars 302. It should be noted that parallel destinations as providedin web page 300 can also include displays of some or all of the contenttypically provided in websites.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot illustrating an example of how embodiments ofsystem 100 can allow users to interact in virtual worlds hosted by thesystem 100 using chat mechanisms described in the co-pendingapplications, for example. As shown in FIG. 4, the system 100 canprovide a chat room that is included as a parallel destinationassociated with a partner 102 website 1902. Alternatively oradditionally, the website can be represented by a web master (eitherreal or virtual) who has a personalized avatar, spaceship and homeplanet, similar to other users. Moreover, the chat room associated withthe website may have a transparent background, and so the users may seetheir chatting avatars on top of the web page(s) of the web site thatthe users are browsing.

As shown in FIG. 4, system 100 represents users 104 in the website chatroom by their respective avatars 1904, and their last entered chatmessage(s) 1906 can be displayed adjacent to their avatars, along withtheir usernames. Moreover, in this particular embodiment, the list ofusers participating in the chat room is shown in box 1910, and any usercan interact or view information about other users via buttons 1912 thatare displayed beneath the user's spaceship 1914. In FIG. 4, for example,a user selected Skully in 1910, which triggered the system/client todisplay Skully's spaceship in 1914. If the user selects another user in1910, such other user's spaceship would appear in 1914.

Example implementations of certain aspects of the motivated interactionfunctionalities provided in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention will become apparent from the above descriptions inconjunction with the following FIGS. 5 to 10. In general, FIGS. 5 to 10are screenshot representations illustrating web page and other contentserved and displayed by system 100 based upon information, preferencesand selections by users 104, as described in more detail below and inthe co-pending applications. Details necessary for an understanding ofthe present invention will be provided below, while other detailsprovided in the co-pending applications or otherwise apparent to thoseskilled in the art will be omitted for clarity of the invention.Moreover, those skilled in the art will understand how to implementmechanisms for allowing system 100 to communicate with user 104 clientsto provide the functionality reflected in the screen shots based on thebelow descriptions as well as those in the co-pending applications.

FIG. 5 shows one example implementation of the invention using a browserplug-in as the client application as discussed above in connection withFIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 5, when installed on the host computer of user104, the plug-in displays an icon tray 502 in the browser toolbar. Inthe upper right-hand corner is number display 504 including the number“8”. This number shows the number of users 104 who are currentlyvisiting the same website (e.g. abercrombie.com in this example) at thismoment in time. In embodiments, the number is usually the color gray.However, when one of those users has something the user needs or wants,or matches the user's criteria (e.g. interests, demographics,preferences, etc.) the number changes from gray to green. This is oneexample implementation of how the invention provides motivation forinteracting with other users online. It is letting the user 104 knowthat someone on abercrombie.com has something the user needs accordingto their information 101 and/or interests, preferences or demographicsmaintained by the system.

In one possible example, the colored number indicates that one of theusers 104 has something this user needs to complete a specialcombination. However, the invention is not limited to this example, andthe indication could be applied to anything the user needs frominformation, to location, to a physical quality.

As another example, and without any limitation, the invention could beapplied to on-line dating. If any of the other users having clients aresimultaneously visiting the same website also meet the user 104'spreferred dating criteria (stored in user preferences 109, for example),such as an unmarried woman between the ages of 25 and 35 that lives inSan Francisco, then the invention can let the user 104 know that a womansatisfying this criteria is currently one of the other users visitingthe same website by displaying the number 504 in a special color.

Many other examples should become apparent to those skilled in the artafter being taught by the present application.

FIG. 6 shows example implementations of other aspects of the invention.As shown in FIG. 6, tray 602 provides a drop-down menu 604, which can beactivated when a user clicks on caret 606, for example. As shown in FIG.6, menu 604 includes numbers in parentheses next to “Visitors” and“Chat”. More particularly, according to aspects of the invention, thenumbers “8” and “5” are a particular color, such as green. In thisembodiment, this color acts as a flag, letting the user know that atleast one person simultaneously visiting the same website (e.g. eBay.comin this example) and one person in the chat room, respectively, meetsthe user's criteria (e.g. having certain Virtual Collectibles 106,sharing certain interests 108, having certain demographics 110, etc.).

FIG. 7 shows an example implementation of aspects of the invention inconnection with a trading system, such as a trading system described inmore detail in co-pending application Ser. No. 12/127,476, the contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference. In this case, the userneeds the “Ice Robot” and “Blue Yeti” to complete a “combo” or othertype of game or puzzle hosted by system 100. The trading system providesa way for the user to obtain one or both of these virtual items bytrading with other users. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 7, the presentinvention allows user 104 to view the cargos 752 of other users 754 whoare currently simultaneously visiting the same website (e.g. ebay.com inthis example). The present invention can further indicate that anotheruser named “TanyQ” currently has an “Ice Robot,” and a user named“Skully” has three “Blue Yeti”. The “Ice Robot” and “Blue Yeti” arepreferably highlighted in a particular color (e.g. green) to indicatethat they are virtual goods that the user needs.

FIG. 8 shows additional example implementations of aspects of theinvention. In this case, the system 100 can allow the user 104 to view alist 802 of all his/her friends, and the names of friends who meet theuser's particular criteria are shown in a special color. In thisexample, WildGirl, NineCastles and X-Band are all highlighted in thecolor green. This indicates that they have something that meets theselection criteria, for example, they all have a “Blue Yeti” virtualgood 804 which the user needs to complete a combo or other puzzle, andwhich is also preferably highlighted in a particular color.

FIG. 9 shows an example implementation of the invention as applied toidentifying other users having desired information. As shown in FIG. 9,system 100 can provide a “News and Events” page where the system 100,users 104 and/or partners 102 can post news bulletins 902, in similarmanner as conventional social networking applications. In the exampleshown in FIG. 9, the news and events bulletins 902 includes one that “Aheard of Blue Yeti have been spotted on eBay,” which can be posted by apartner 102 such as ebay.com. In this example, this bulletin 902 ishighlighted in green because “Blue Yeti” meet the user's virtual goodssearch criteria, and/or is needed to complete a “combo” or other puzzle.

FIG. 10 is a screenshot illustrating an example user profile page thatcan be generated by system 100 and displayed for a user 104 having aclient application. FIG. 10 further illustrates certain user informationthat can be maintained by system 100 according to aspects of theinvention. In particular, the profile page can show user information 704that can include both user interests 108 and user demographics 110 thatcan be used by system 100 to promote and facilitate interactionsaccording to aspects of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 10, a user's profile can further include accountinformation 706 indicating the amount of real or virtual funds the userhas in his/her account, along with user information such as a user'strading reputation and status (e.g. reputation of 97%, and status as“Moderate Trader”). The profile page can also show a summary of thenumber and type 702 of Virtual Collectibles 106 the user has.

As further shown in FIG. 10, the user's profile can further includesocial networking information 710 that includes personal details, thenumber of visits other users have made to the user's home page orvirtual planet, and the amount of activity (e.g. words typed in chat,time spent, etc.) on the user's home page or virtual planet. As furthershown, the user's profile page can further include virtual worldactivity statistics 708. This can include the user's ranking among allsystem users in a number of categories over a given period of time, forexample the money the user has spent for Virtual Collectibles in a giventime, the quantity of chat activity, the number of trades, the number offriends made, community/reputation ratings, experience level, etc. Itshould be apparent that the displayed statistics in a user's profile mayonly be a subset of the number and types of statistics that can bemaintained by the system for each user based on their activity invirtual world(s) hosted by the system.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example process that can beimplemented by system 100 to promote, motivate and/or facilitateinteractions between users.

As shown in FIG. 11, in step S1102, the system identifies criteria fordetermining which, if any, other users the user 104 may be interested ininteracting with. This can be done automatically by the system 100and/or manually entered into the system 100 by the user. For example,the system 100 can identify previous searches that the user hasperformed and/or “combos” of Virtual Collectibles 106 that the user isclose to competing. It can then compare these to the VirtualCollectibles 106 possessed by the other visitors of the virtual world.As another example, the system 100 can compare user interests 108, userpreferences 109 and user demographics 110 entered by the user 104 intosystem 100 to those of the other visitors to determine if there is aclose match. More particularly, system 100 can provide a mechanism (e.g.web page(s), control(s), etc.) that allows user 104 to specify theirinterests 108 and/or demographics 110 and/or whether they are interestedin meeting other users with such interests 108 and/or demographics 110.Those skilled in the art will understand how to implement suchmechanisms after being taught by the present disclosure and theco-pending applications.

Next, in step S1104 a user 104 surfs the web as usual. In step S1106,when a user visits a new URL, the user 104's client application notesthis activity and transmits this information to system 100. For example,the client can monitor whenever a new URL is typed into the user 104'sbrowser, or when a link to a URL having a different domain name than thecurrent page is clicked. The client may also maintain a memory of thelast known URL visited and use that to compare to the new URL. The newURL is transmitted by the client along with other information such asthe user's identity, to system 100 using http methods and TCP sockets,for example. It should be appreciated that this communication can takeplace without the user's awareness.

In step S1108, system 100 compares the URL against the URLscurrently/last being visited by all other users 104 that are on-line(e.g. have client applications that are actively communicating withsystem 100). If there are any other user's currently/last visiting thatURL, processing advances to step S1110, otherwise it returns to stepS1104.

In step S1110, system 100 further compares the criteria identified instep S1102 with the Virtual Collectibles 106, user interests 108 and/oruser demographics 110 of other users visiting the same URL. If system100 in step S1110 determines that another user(s) meets those criteria,processing advances to step S1112. Otherwise, processing returns to stepS1104.

In step S1112, system 100 sends data, text and/or multimedia content tothe client associated with user 104 which can correspondingly present amessage on the host device's output component, such as a computer screenor a cell phone screen, or provide another indicator (e.g. a tone orbuzz) indicating that another user meets criteria that the user 104might find interesting. For example, the content can cause certain textassociated with the user 104's client application to appear and/orchange color. Additionally or alternatively, the content can cause anavatar associated with the other user to flash, glow, or change in size.User 104 can then have the option to interact with the other user,including for example, to view the other user's Virtual Collectible byright-clicking on the other user's avatar and viewing the other user'scargo. If a user so chooses, the user can also send a chat message tothe other user and/or invite the other user to discuss a trade. Theactual processes and mechanisms that are used to enable a user tointeract with other users are described in more detail above and in theco-pending applications.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the user could be alertedabout other users of interest without ever leaving a specific URL. Forexample, User A might be at www.google.com and chatting away with otherusers. Then, when another user enters www.google.com, and who meets thecriteria that User A has set, an alert can be sent to User A. Similarly,when the User A is in the surfing mode (i.e., the User A has not openedthe application to chat or show his/her presence in the form of avatar,but still have the client application turned on), another user may cometo the URL where the User A is, and this second user may meet User A'scriteria. In that case, system 100 would alert the User A, and promptthe User A to open the client and show his/her presence to initiateinteraction with the other user.

It should be further noted that system 100 can include similarfunctionality as described in the co-pending applications forautomatically adding users to chat groups associated with a commonlyvisited virtual location. For example, depending on the user'spreferences, as stored in user accounts for example, system 100 candetermine whether or not the user wishes to enter a parallel destinationprovided by the partner associated with the matching URL, or has turnedthis feature off. As another example, there may be criteria thatconfigures how and when to allow particular users to receive virtualgoods or services, as described in co-pending application Ser. No.12/118,533.

According to certain aspects of the invention, further entertainmentvalue for users (and as a result, added traffic for the system andpartner web sites) can be provided by allowing users to trade VirtualCollectibles with other users, either for entertainment value itself, orto gain prizes according to the terms of a game conducted by the system,for example to obtain Combos.

The example implementations described above should be consideredillustrative rather than limiting, and many combinations, divisions,deletions, alterations and supplementations even within the abovedescribed implementations are possible, as should become apparent tothose skilled in the art. For example, and without limitation, aspectsof the invention can be combined in various ways with thefunctionalities described in the co-pending applications.

Although the present invention has been particularly described withreference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it should be readilyapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that changes andmodifications in the form and details may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that the appendedclaims encompass such changes and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: hosting, by a server, avirtual world in which users can interact with each other via respectiveavatars; automatically determining, by the server, for a first one ofthe users, criteria associated with one or more virtual goods possessedby a second one of the users for use in the virtual world; receiving atthe server, from a first client associated with the first user,information regarding a publicly accessible website that the first useris visiting via a network; receiving at the server, from a second clientassociated with the second user, information regarding the same publiclyaccessible website that the second user is simultaneously visiting viathe network; automatically by a server, in response to receiving theinformation from the first and second clients that the first and secondusers are simultaneously visiting the same publicly accessible website,comparing the criteria with information in a profile of the second user;and automatically, by the server, alerting the first user about thesecond user based on information in the profile of the second usermatching at least some of the criteria via communications by the serverwith the first client, wherein the publicly accessible website isseparate from the server and its hosted virtual world with respect tonetwork addresses.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein theautomatically alerting step includes: identifying a plurality of otherusers simultaneously visiting the same publicly accessible website;comparing the criteria to user information regarding the other users;and identifying the second user from among the plurality of users basedon a match between the criteria and the second user's user information.3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the criteria includes avirtual good that the first user is interested in acquiring.
 4. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the criteria further includes one or moreof a personal interest that the first user has, a personal demographicof the first user, and a personal preference regarding other people thatthe first user has.
 5. A method according to claim 1, furthercomprising: providing a mechanism by which the first user entersinformation relating to the criteria.
 6. A method according to claim 1,wherein the step of automatically determining the criteria includes:automatically determining potential interests of the first user based onuser information of the first user; and automatically forming thecriteria based on the automatic determination.
 7. A method according toclaim 6, wherein the user information includes a predetermined combo ofvirtual goods that the first user has not yet completed.
 8. A methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the user information includes virtualgoods that the first user already possesses.
 9. A method according toclaim 6, wherein the user information includes one or more of activitiesthat the first user is interested in and personal demographicinformation about the first user.
 10. A method according to claim 2,further comprising: sending, from the server, information to the firstclient regarding a total number of the users visiting the same website;and rendering on a display associated with the first user, by the firstclient, content including the total number.
 11. A method according toclaim 1, wherein alerting includes displaying a name associated with anavatar of the second user in a list of all other ones of the users whoare simultaneously visiting the publicly accessible website.
 12. Amethod according to claim 11, wherein displaying includes displaying thename in a special color.
 13. A method comprising: hosting, by a serversystem, a virtual world in which users can interact with each other viarespective avatars; automatically determining, by the server system, fora first one of the users, criteria associated with one or more virtualgoods possessed by a second one of the users for use in the virtualworld; receiving information, at a server system, that the first andsecond users are simultaneously accessing first and second publiclyaccessible website addresses, respectively; and serving content from theserver system to a client associated with the first user that indicatesthe presence of the second user based on matching information in aprofile of the second user with the specified criteria, the serversystem automatically comparing the profile to the criteria and servingthe content in response to receiving the information the first andsecond users are simultaneously accessing the first and second publiclyaccessible website addresses.
 14. A method according to claim 13,further comprising: identifying, at the server system, other criteriaregarding other users that the first user is interested in interactingwith; and identifying, at the server system, a third one of the usersbased on the criteria.
 15. A method according to claim 13, wherein thecriteria includes a virtual good that the first user is interested inacquiring.
 16. A method according to claim 13, wherein the othercriteria includes one or more of a personal interest that the first userhas, a personal demographic of the first user and a personal preferenceregarding other people that the first user has.